2019 Annual Conference & Trade Show

The next few years will be historic for WIC! This year’s conference will showcase the wave of improvements and innovations that include new technology and fresh perspectives on engaging and sustaining WIC participants. Critical updates, worksite wellness, and exemplary leadership will be featured. Best practices for standing strong, lifting up all of us, and moving families forward, will be integral to our message. Together we will work towards building vibrant communities and strengthening our resolve to collaborate and find solutions. Come ready to learn and enjoy colleagues as we create the WIC program for today’s families!

Check out this year’s 2019 CWA Spring Conference – full agenda. Please note that this is a working agenda in progress. Some session titles, dates, and times are subject to change based on speaker availability and WIC alignment. Please check back as a final agenda will be posted soon!

Dates & Location

Registration

Register online using the applicable button below.
Register early for the best rates! Early Bird rates good through March 15, 2019.
Cancellations will not be accepted after March 22, 2019, however, substitutions may be made.
Online registration closes April 19, 2019.
Instructions to make hotel reservations will be on your conference registration confirmation.
See lodging information below.
View Fee Schedule 2019 here.
Questions? Contact Meghan.

Speakers

If you have been confirmed as a workshop presenter, please contact Jodi about the speaker registration process and forms.

Planning to Attend?

Exhibitors & Sponsors

Trade Show Talk

Local Agency Sharing

Continuing Education Opportunities

Plenary Speakers share their energy and expertise with us on Monday and Wednesday mornings:

Flojaune G. Cofer, PhD, MPH, Senior Director of Policy at Public Health Advocates. Dr. Cofer will talk with us about racial disparities in health and how that is affecting our WIC participants.

Brian Dittmeier, Esq., Senior Public Policy Counsel, National WIC Association will be giving us updates on the federal WIC budget process and other national policy.

Lorrene Ritchie, PhD, Director, Nutrition Policy Institute, and Cooperative Extension Specialist, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California & Shannon Whaley, PhD, Director of Research and Evaluation, PHEF WIC. These guest speakers will talk to us about participant retention and help us to better understand reasons for discontinuing WIC benefits.

Nicole Henley, PhD, MBA, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Science and Human Ecology, California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). Dr. Henley will speak about social determinants of health and how to reduce health disparities in vulnerable populations through the use of culturally responsive evaluation.

Jo Lichten, PhD, RDN, CSP, will bring it all together and send us off ready to build on our resilience, and manage stress through a time of transformational change.

Pre-Conference Seminars – Plan to spend in-depth time with top-notch experts. We will have two concurrent pre-conference seminars to choose from this year:

Creating the Wave: WIC Innovations and Streamlining– Promising Practices and Lessons Learned, facilitated by Linnea Sallack, Altarum Institute and Zoë Neuberger, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, with guest speakers from local and state agencies from Arizona, California, Colorado, and Oklahoma.

Trade Show & Exhibits – Meet and talk with reps from nearly 70 businesses and nonprofits exhibiting the latest products and services available to WIC Program participants and providers. New this year: Trade Show Talks! We’ll have fun with a scavenger hunt, too.

Local Agency Sharing – Want to showcase a best practice or unique strategy? Here’s a chance to educate your peers about your local agency’s success in Breastfeeding Support, Peer Counseling, Worksite Wellness, Nutrition Education, Local Vendor Liaisons, Data and Evaluation, Outreach, Collaboration, Advocacy, or something else! Sign up using the navy button above, or contact Sarah Diaz with questions.

New this year: you can apply to give a short talk during the Trade Show – register using the purple button above or contact Jodi Mulligan-Pfile with questions.

Trivia Quiz Night! — Get a team together and rev up that competitive WIC spirit for some trivia, prizes and fun. Need a team? No problem. Sign-up details coming soon.Flo Cofer 2019 – 04-29 WIC Workshop

Fun Stuff!

Dress up, geek out, have fun! Join us for Wave Catcher’s Trivia Night, where you can flex your WIC knowledge and your pop cultural expertise! Sign yourself and/or your team up today! Prizes will be awarded for things like team spirit and most creative team name. The overall team winner will go down in the history books! Don’t have a team of 8, don’t worry! We will match you up with teams from across the state.

SIGN YOUR TEAM UP for CWA Go! – Can you find all the fruit and veggie signs around the Town and Country for prizes? Sign up your team using the link in blue, or get psyched to tackle it solo! CWA GO begins bright and shiny at 8am on Monday, April 28. TEAMS pick up your game PACKET at registration. Individual game cards will be available at registration also.

Get your Hawaiian shirts ready and dig your summer clothes out of your closet! Anybody that dresses with a “Beach Theme” during the conference is welcome to pick up a raffle ticket at registration. You will be entered to win a number of cool prizes! Winning tickets will be drawn and announced throughout the conference, so catch the Wave and surfs up!

Wellness Activities

Conference schedules can be demanding, so take advantage of wellness breaks to recharge your body and mind.

Try a fun and fierce self-defense class put on by FODADA, who also puts on International Women’s Self-defense Day (don’t worry, men are invited too).

Lodging Information

California WIC Association has a limited room block at the Town and Country due to construction. We have added a room block at the Handlery Hotel to accommodate this reduction. The Handlery Hotel is a 5 minute walk from the Town and Country (0.2 miles). There will also be a complimentary shuttle between the 2 hotels running throughout the conference.

Special Group Rates for Both Hotels: $125 single/$155 double. Deadline for the group rate is March 27, 2019.Instructions to make hotel reservations will be on your conference registration confirmation.

Trade Show Materials

Join other WIC-related companies and organizations to promote your products and services to nearly 1,000 conference attendees who represent 3,000 WIC employees serving one million WIC participants in California. Read the 2019 Sponsor & Exhibitor Opportunities Packet and contact Teresa Morris with any questions. New this year: you can apply to give a short talk during the Trade Show – register using the purple button above.

Conference Presentation Materials

Conference speakers materials that were submitted, are posted below in order by date and time. As speakers submit more materials, this list will be updated. Thank you.